The Percy Standard

This was not a straightforward job to do!

Henry Algernon Percy, the 5th Earlof Northumberland, had a large contingent in the 1513 invasion of France. It is from this contingent that perhaps some of the more detailed information survives with regards to the uniforms and equipment carried by his men and as this was the best source I could find to 'Tudor-ise' the archers from the Perry boxed set I decided to represent him in my force.

The main source I used for information was the Osprey MAA book; Henry VIII's Army, as this has a colour illustration of the flag. There is also a reference to its appearance and heraldic charges in the Osprey MAA Wars of the Roses book, although this does somewhat contradict the illustration in the former as it mentions a white unicorn with a gold crown around its neck.

I decided to omit the unicorn as the flag is quite busy to start with!

To begin I scanned in Henry VIII's flag from Ian Heath's Armies of the 16th century so that i had the correct shape. I then removed Henry's charge and left the cross of St George at the hoist and the diagonal strips for the motto.

It was then a case of finding a lion passant and crescent in jpeg form to add to the banner. I removed the lion's tail as it is represented slightly differently than usual - this along with the hunting horn, manacles,motto (esperance en dieu - hope in god) and falchion I painted on freehand.

So here it is ready to be attached to the standard bearer. I have fully painted the heraldic devices but left everything else in its base colour to highlight once the flag has been attached and folded.

For reference, I have printed the flag design onto an A4 adhesive label sheet, this will then be cut out, peeled off and attached to the pole - no glue, no mess.

As mentioned, this wasn't an easy job so I thought I'd share it's process with you as it was very much trial and error, feel free to use the illustrations if you wish.

Further reading on Henry Algernon Percy is available via this link;

http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/henrypercy5.htm

Photographs of the command group will be uploaded soon.